Monday 14 February 2011

Murder On The Orient Express By Agatha Christie

Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Simon Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. One of his fellow passengers must be the murderer.
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Isolated by the storm and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer amongst a dozen of the dead man's enemies, before the murderer decides to strike again...
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This is my second book of Agatha Christie's that I have read which involves Hercule Poirot and it didn't disappoint. The first book I read was Peril at End House and I immediately became a fan of Agatha Christie because I never saw the end coming and Murder on the Orient Express is exactly the same. Somehow she manages to weave such a complex story whilst making it appear simple and very easy to follow and understand.
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Hercule Poirot is such a fascinating character. I love the way he just sits back and analyses people and seems to know right off what sort of person they are. You also get the feeling that he always knows more than he is letting on and that he always has a firm grasp on which way the case is heading, yet all the time making out that it is steering its own course.
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Agatha Christie has a way of always making the discovery of the murderer a surprise. To do this she covers every suspect in a mask and it's up to Poirot to delve deeper and uncover the true identity of people. It's amazing how she manages to tie in all the little clues that were given along the way because at first glance that don't seem to go together at all, but as always she has a very clever and impressive ending.
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Whilst Peril at End House is still my favourite, Murder on the Orient Express is a close second. It is a very exciting read and the suspense gradually grows right through to the end.
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Random Passage: M. Bouc shook his head. His mind reverted to the astonishing revelations of the last half-hour. He murmered:
'Lies - and lies again-it amazes me, the amount of lies we had told to us this morning.'
'There are more still to discover,' said Poirot cheerfully.
'You think so?'
'I shall be very disappointed if it is not so.'

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love just about all of the Christie books I've read, but this is one of the few where I actually remember the plot.

The Library Owl said...

I've read three Agatha Christie novels so far and I enjoyed them all but I'm guessing after a few more I will probably be able to see the similarities in plot between them, in the way the main detective (like Poirot) approachs the case. Never the less I wonder if I will ever be able to guess how it all ends and the identity of the murderer before I read it? Agatha Christie always seems to keep me guessing!